Oral Gift
by MBSAVfan1
Summary: Sequel-ish one-shot to 'Christmas Fears'. Looks like someone's losing thei first tooth...


**Hey guys, new one shot. Kinda a sequel to 'Christmas Fears'. The kids discover the tooth fairy for the first time.**

A few months had passed and spring was just on the horizon. There was less frost in the morning, and the days were warmer, and getting to be a bit longer. Zaida was now four months old and had gotten the hang of walking, often toddling after her big brother and friends on their little adventures and games. They were happy to have her along; they didn't want to adopt their older siblings' previous ways.

The little chick had also picked up on a few words, her first and favorite being "Brother." She loved her older brother, Silas, more than anything, and wanted nothing more than to be just like him and be his friend. She got her wish; he gladly carried her along when he went to play. She couldn't yet walk, and seeing as she was still very small, couldn't walk very fast or long distances, so he was happy to scoop her up and cradle the cheery ball of downy fluff.

The kids were currently gathered at their favorite place to play, the forbidden area of the marshy bog. It was mainly forbidden for it's unstable ground. Being a marsh land, much of it was unsteady; something that looked solid could really just be a floating patch of moss that would give way to who-knew-how-deep water. Denisha, Silas and Zaida's mother, especially didn't want them there.

With a new curious chick following them around, she could easily be distracted and carelessly step in a deep pool. But Silas made sure to keep her either holding his wing or being carried at all times.

There play place was a huge slab of rock in the middle of the bog like a tiny island, having been modified with any materials they could find. It was used mainly for their favorite game in the world: pirates. It even had a 'below deck' where the rock had an odd crevice in it that went down about three feet, with a net of vines strung down into it tied to a rock so they could get in and out.

They were currently breaking for snack time, which Raz had brought. She always ended up with those kinds of jobs; storing this and that in her pouch. While she wasn't sure she liked it, she was used to it. They were munching on a multitude of fruits, even Shira. They'd had her try fruit for the first time, and while it wasn't the meat she was used to, she had to admit, it was sweet and rather good.

Little Zaida stood on the sabers shoulder, chirping from time to time, in which she would slice her a small piece of her fruit and give it to her. She was currently smacking on a piece of melon, spitting out a seed. She was about to cheep again for a piece of apple that Shira was biting down on, when- "Ow!" the saber suddenly jerked and dropped her apple, along with the chick, who began to.

As Silas shushed her, Raz asked "Whasa' matt'ah Sheila?"

She was tenderly rubbing the right side of her jaw. "I- I dunno. My tooth hurts."

"Yer tooth…" she'd seen one of her big brothers react similarly at dinner a few days ago. It turned out Jemal was getting his wisdom teeth, and was in a lot of pain. It hurt to swallow and even talk, he said. For the sabers sake, the young marsupial hoped that wasn't the case.

Just to be sure, though, she got up and decided to have a look. "Op'n up." She did. Raz looked around, everything looked fine. No new teeth sprouting in the very back… "Ah dunno. Maybe ye jus' gotta seed stuck 'er some'n." they all knew how painful that could be, getting an orange or apple seed of something stuck between your teeth _hurt_.

"Maybe…"

"Too!" Zaida cooed enthusiastically at this new word. "Too… Toof! Toof!"

As she danced around, singing her new word, the kids watched her closely and continued to eat. But, yet again, a sharp pain hit Shira's mouth, right along the left gum, and she caught a very familiar salty taste. Blood. But she hadn't eaten any meat lately, so it must be…

"I'm bleeding!" she jumped up, and they all looked up. Zaida evens topped singing 'toof toof toof!' for a moment. "I taste blood."

"Alrigh, calm down." But the joey felt fear rising. Bleeding could be serious, after all. "Lemme see." She looked again, and sure enough, there was a tiny bit of red liquid around one of Shia's sharp kitten teeth, seeping from underneath it. Her golden eyes widened; she'd never heard of someone bleeding from their _teeth_ before. "Yeh… les' git home! Some'ns wrong with ya!"

So they grabbed little Zaida (who had lost interest in their conversation and started merrily chanting her new word again) and rushed across the tree bridge that led to solid ground. They ran back, making sure no one was around to see them leaving the bog.

They found their mothers all sitting in Raz's cave, considering she had the biggest cave for her big family (size and number wise. After all, her kind could get up to a little over nine feet tall), chatting away. When they burst in, they all turned to look at them, startled. "Mum! Shira's bleedin!" the joey cried in distress.

"Where?" Shika asked in gentle concern, pulling her daughter over with one foreleag and looking her over. "I don't see anything."

"In my mouth! I taste it!"

"What…" Shika carefully inspected it, getting a hunch. "Sweetie, give me a favor and push on the tooth for me. The one that hurts." While she hadn't mentioned that and was curious as to how her mother knew, she didn't bother asking at the moment, and did as she was told. Shika watched as her idea was confirmed and the tooth wiggled.

She couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh Shira… there's nothing wrong!"

"But" she looked near tears, frightened by the lack of explanation. "But then what's happening?"

She chuckled again. "Your tooth's loose! You're going to lose your tooth!" she explained.

The child gasped and touched the side of her head protectively, shaking her head. "N-No! It'll hurt!"

Shika nuzzled her comfortingly. "No it won't. It's totally normal."

"But-"

"Mayba it'll help if sheh knows bout the tooth fair'eh." A new sleepy, pain filled voice piped up. Apparently, the noise had woken Jemal, who'd been sleeping. He tenderly rubbed his own jaw; he'd been trying to sleep off the pain the past few days and ignore the hunger. The pain made it impossible to chew, let alone swallow any food. It hurt just to swallow saliva.

"The wha?" Raz asked curiously, hopping up to sit beside her brother. "Who's wha? _Whas_ tha?"

He chuckled lightly and ruffled the joeys ears, rubbing his tired eyes. "Wheneva ye loose onea yer bab'eh teeth, ye puttit unda yer pillow an then theh tooth fair'eh comes an takes yer tooth, leaving ya a pres'nt."

They all looked very interested. "Well why do they call them baby teeth?" Gupta suddenly asked. "They don't look like babies."

Joyeeta laughed at his curious innocence. "No… they're just smaller. That's why the tooth fairy likes them."

"Realla?" Raz clambered into her big brother's lap. "Is tha true mummy?" she looked questioningly at her mother, who nodded.

"Yep." Lalli confirmed. "An 'ventually, sheh comes back afta sheh takes yer bab'eh teeth and makes yer grown up ones start ta grow."

They looked up at Jemal. They'd heard from Raz how painful growing his wisdom teeth had been so far. "D-Does it hurt?" Squint asked.

"No no." Julie reassured her only son. "Growing your baby teeth is fast and painless. Believe me."

He looked at her incredulously. "It happened to you?"

She nodded. "Yep."

"So… you had little teeth too?"

"Yep. Every one of them used to be small like yours."

"So when do we pull it out?" Gunner suddenly asked.

Shira gasped fearfully and covered her mouth, diving behind her mothers forearm. Amethyst chuckled. "You don't. It'll fall out on it's own."

"It will?" the white cub asked.

Shika licked the top of her head. "Yep."

"Bu- But what if it comes out when 'm eating and I swallow it?! Then the tooth fairy won't come!" the others gasped, while Zaida, naturally started chanting 'fa-we'. She could lighten any mood without trying.

"You won't. You'll know when it does." She bent down and nudged her daughter out of hiding. "Now go and play. It'll come when it's ready." She plucked up a yawning Zaida. "Except for you, little missy. Looks like it's naptime." She handed her to her mother, who started rocking her gently.

Jemal stood up and placed Raz on the ground. "Ah'm goin back ta bed. Good luck." And he was gone, holding his jaw. Poor guy…

"C'mon! Let's go!" and they ran out, Shira's sore tooth forgotten.

They decided not to go back to the bog; sneaking one visit was pushing it, but two? That was practically _begging_ to get caught. So they instead engaged in a game of tag, chasing each other around. Shira pushed on her tooth absent mindedly, not thinking much of it, until-

"Hey!" she suddenly stopped. There was a weird feeling in her mouth, along with a slight weight on her tongue. What was… "My tooth!"

They all stopped and looked at her. "Look! My tooth came out!" she gently spit it out into her padded palm. It was pointy and pearly white, jagged on one end and stained red.

"Cool…" they all marveled the little thing for a while, wondering why it was so jagged. It didn't feel all pokey and pointy in her mouth, she said. So why in the world…

They were so entranced they were unaware of a shadow slowly appearing above them, until "BOO!"

They all screamed and whirled around, startled. Lily and Jake, Gunner's older brother and sister, hung upside down there, laughing a little. Lilly reached out and patted her little brothers head. "Sorry, couldn't resist." She looked down at the only predator of the group, who was holding her right forepaw in the air, curled up as if confining something. "And what's all the excitement about?"

She opened her paw and showed them proudly. "My tooth came out!" she traced the new hole with her tongue. It felt weird, smooth and slippery, soft almost.

Jake leaned a little closer and reached out to prod it. He whistled, impressed. "Sheez, _that'll_ getcha something big from the tooth fairy."

She stood up a little straighter in excitement, curious. "Really?"

"Yep. Probly a new toy or something." Lily told her. She heaved a tired sigh. "Well, I'm off. I'm tired." She looked around at the little one. "You should get home. It's getting dark." They looked at the sky questioningly and found that it was, indeed getting dark. Dinner would be soon. And that meant a visit from the tooth fairy!

Lily reached out and plucked her small younger brother off the ground, depositing him on her back, who complained "Aw Lily! Do we gotta go _now_?"

"Yes." And they swung off, the child waving.

"Bye guys!"

"Bye!"

"We should get home." Shira said eagerly. "The soon we do, the sooner I get to see the tooth fairy!"

"Ah wouldn' be s'sure, Sheila." Aadien, Raz's eldest brother, appeared, there to bring his sister back. "Sheh won't come 'less yer asleep."

"Aw man!" she complained. She'd really wanted to see the fairy, and what she looked like!

"Shira." Her father, Shindon, appeared behind her. "Time to come home." He picked her up by the scruff and she waved to her friends. He had a black pelt, with a few white marking on his face and around his ankles. He had emerald eyes, similar to his other daughter, sixteen year old Shila.

As the other children cleared off with their escorts for the night, Shira clutched her tooth lovingly. She couldn't wait to show Shila and Shika. Her first tooth; that was a big deal!

She ran eagerly into the cave. "Mom, mom, look!" She held out her tooth. "I lost it! It came out!"

"That's great honey!" she exclaimed. "Now let me see." She held it out, and Shika admired it. It looked healthy and strong, well formed, a sign her baby was growing up with no problems, developing into a fine young saber.

"Come on, we're having deer."

"Yay!" Shira carefully set her tooth down near her sleeping place, where she would not lose it. Then she ran to the carcass and quickly ate her supper, although it was a little strange eating with a missing tooth; it felt strange feeling the meat hit her gums.

The cub was actually _eager_ for bedtime, and had already washed her face and taken off her earrings before her mother even told her to get ready. She gladly curled up on her bed of leaves and slid the pointy little tooth under her pillow. She patted it lovingly, then closed her eyes. '_Tooth fairy tooth fairy tooth fairy_!' she thought.

-Morning-

The saber cave was awoken by a delighted squeal. "Looky! Look what the tooth fairy brought!" the cub squealed, bouncing up to her parents. It was a beautifully carved wooden heart, with her and all her friends names carved in it. Then, on the back, there was a perfect depiction of them, arms around each other and smiling like the best of friends. Even though she and Squint didn't always get along, they were on ok standards. Not necessarily good, but ok. They tolerated each other.

"Wow…" Shila couldn't help but stand in awe, and this sassy teenager was _not_ easily impressed.

Shira grabbed it and ran out, eager to show her friends her new decoration, which she planned to stick to the wall right near her sleeping spot with some tree spot. They were amazed and delighted, just as she'd hoped. Because this gift was, really, for all of them. The perfect symbol of their friendship.

**So, what'dja think? Cute? Well, I enjoyed writing it. Review please!**

**Question, I'm thinking about maybe doing a one shot about Raz's first few days in the valley. Should I?**


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